Integrated circuits are made possible by processes which produce intricately patterned material layers on substrate surfaces. Producing patterned material on a substrate requires controlled methods for depositing material to be patterned. Physical, chemical, and plasma-enhanced deposition techniques are used to deposit different materials on substrates. In general, the layers should be deposited uniformly and smoothly across the substrate surface. In addition, different materials have different characteristics. Many layers of different materials can lead to different effects on the stack of layers or the substrate itself. These different effects can alter the performance and reliability of integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices. With shrinking dimensions of semiconductor devices, the deposited layers often have more stringent uniformity and roughness requirements. As a result, there is a need for improved systems and methods that can be used to produce high quality devices and structures. These and other needs are addressed by the present technology.